Hennepin County Elections Director Rachel Smith says the county has finished its post election review and Democrat Mark Dayton picked up five votes on Republican Tom Emmer. Smith says county elections officials did a hand recount of 14,000 ballots to ensure that the voting machines on Election Night were accurate. Smith says the review found that Dayton picked up three votes and Emmer lost two votes in the state’s most populous county.

“There were a couple of precincts that had a jammed ballot,” Smith said. “The other thing we found that there were some voter intent issues to decide so we saw one or two ballots where the voter had marked below the target or had yes next to the candidate rather than filling in the oval completely.”

Smith says the post election review also showed that county elections officials are prepared for a possible hand recount of all of the ballots in the race for governor. The State Canvassing Board will meet next week to order the recount, which is scheduled to start at sites throughout the state on November 29th.

About the blogger

Tom Scheck has covered politics and state government for more than ten years for MPR News. He’s covered several gubernatorial campaigns, two statewide recounts, the presidential bids of Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann, U.S. Senate races, close Congressional contests and the Minnesota Legislature. He lives in Falcon Heights with his wife, son and dog. He can sometimes be found chasing a white ball on a golf course. It isn’t a straight walk. Tips are welcome at tscheck@mpr.org